Joke from an 1850s quasi-pornographic newspaper:
"Why is Ex-President Pierce like the privates of a man?
Because he went in Hard and came out Soft."
I'm not actually sure what the joke means. Perhaps monetary policy. But any Franklin Pierce sex joke must be shared.
From Donna Dennis' Licentious Gotham: Erotic Publishing and Prosecution in Nineteenth-Century New York.
Seaman's protection certificate for Samuel Fox, 1854.
Many free African-Americans worked on ships. Because of this, they made up a surprisingly high percentage of the Union Navy during the Civil War.
Food and drink menu from United States Hotel, Washington, 1852. The dinner was dedicated to the election of Franklin Pierce as president.
Stamp commemorating 100th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, 1958.
New York Herald report after 6th Lincoln-Douglas Debate, October 13, 1858
Lincoln's "House Divided" speech, 1858. One of the most important and famous speeches he made before he was president. Famous line: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Stephen A. Douglas, Illinois Democratic senator.
Like many northern Democrats by the 1850s, he had to serve the slave power to survive. Ultimately, his willingness to compromise destroyed him. Although he beat Lincoln in the Senate race in 1858, he lost in 1860, primarily because the southern Democrats walked out of the convention when Douglas was nominated. This despite the fact that Douglas did everything he could to destroy the Missouri Compromise through the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which introduced the concept of "popular sovereignty," which supposedly would let people decide as a state whether they wanted slavery. What this really meant was that pro and anti-slavery zealots flooded to Kansas to start killing each other over the issue in 1857. So-called "Bleeding Kansas" was a prelude to the Civil War and few deserved more blame for it than Douglas. Despite this, he wasn't considered ideologically pure enough for the Democratic Party of the time.
Any comparisons between the Democratic Party of 1860 and the Republican Party of 2009 are up to the reader to decide.
This week's images will focus on the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 and surrounding issues of the union falling apart over the issue of slavery.
"Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler," political cartoon of the late 1850s.
This week's series will be of Native Americans in U.S. history.
"Indians Traveling," General Seth Eastman, 1850s.
"Betting a Negro in the Southern States," from William Wells Brown's slave narrative Clotel; or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States, 1853.
Interior of Robert G. Campbell House, built 1851. St. Louis.
I love the subtlety of 19th century interior decoration. Not over the top in the least.
